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Above, Below, Within, Without

My dogs are always discovering bones when we are out and about on our walks and they make no distinction about who those bones once belonged to.

This year they started showing up with canine skulls on a regular basis.

Their discoveries lead me deeper into a personal reflection of one of my own.

As I stepped out onto my deck heading out for a morning walk I was drawn to a small but prominent, white object lying on the wood.

It is a canine tooth. Full and complete with root still attached. It is a tooth from a wild canine, no doubt from one of the earlier found skulls. I was astounded that this single tooth had landed and remained on my deck; so easy for me to discover.

I picked up the new found treasure and held it between thumb and forefinger, rolling it, examining the tooth and then the root of it, finally setting it in my palm.

A canine tooth with its root that mirrors it. As above, so below. As within, so without.

‘As above, so below.’ Nothing reflects this motto so concretely as the land does. As we move into another year of grass rotations and I walk across the land, scanning it for signs of its future plans, as above-so below is my mantra. As we graze the grass above, the roots will also take a hit. If we disturb wetlands, till up the soil or dump our waste, there are entire counterparts elsewhere that are affected.

Every aspect of the world we see ‘above ground’ has a counterpart somewhere else, somewhere deeper. Counterparts we seldom think of.

‘As within, so without.’ Every external event or item we give, receive, yearn for, repel and react to is a deeper reflection of what lies within. When life presents scenarios that make us itch and feel uneasy, or make us glow and feel at ease, it is a sign of what needs attention or what we need more of.

It is a Ying and Yang type of thing. The tails chase one another. So should we make a change within it will be reflected without, and the without will feed us within.

It is so succinctly befitting that a canine tooth would represent this as-above, so-below rhythm of the land; this as-within, so-without cyclical maxim of nature. That it came from a wild dog and that it was deposited by another one who lives with me. I was so fond of my find that Allen set about getting me another tooth from another skull.